Movie Review: The Hangover Part III

Unlike the other two films in the series, The Hangover Part III starts in Klong Pem prison in Thailand, from which Leslie Chow (Ken Jeong, Ride Along 2) has just escaped, and not with the Wolfpack wondering what has just happened. In addition, Alan (Zach Galifianakis, Birdman) has been off his meds for months and is therefore behaving very erratically - even more so than he normal does - resulting in him buying a giraffe and causing a pile up on the freeway. After his father's death, his family and friends - Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms, We're the Millers) and brother-in-law Doug (Justin Bertha) - have arranged an intervention for him in a place called New Horizons in Arizona. An intervention, if you aren't familiar with the term, is a type of counselling which attempts to get a subject to get help for their problems.[1] The other three agree to drive Alan there.

Things, naturally, do not go to plan. On the way to New Horizons the four get forced off the road by a van and taken prisoner by a criminal named Marshall (John Goodman, Monsters University, ParaNorman, The Internship). Due to the events of the first film, namely Alan buying the drugs from Black Doug (Mike Epps), Marshall, Black Doug's boss, thinks that the Wolfpack have the best chance of finding Chow and retrieving the money that Chow stole from him. Doug gets taken hostage to make sure they do this, meaning that once again Doug plays very little part in the film. The remaining trio then chase across the country, returning to Vegas, which was the scene of the first film, again.

Part III is described as being the third and final film in the Hangover trilogy; however, it was never really planned to be a trilogy in the first place and The Hangover Part II was only really made due to the unexpected and absolutely massive success of The Hangover. As such, even with it now being a trilogy, there could well be another film in the series if Part III is successful enough - the third film is the most expensive to date, and so is unlikely to be as comparatively successful as the other - and there is definitely the set up for another film. Make sure you stay and watch the scene in the credits, which has been described as the funniest part of the film.

The Hangover Part III has a completely different storyline to the first two films. In The Hangover Phil, Stu and Alan woke up in Las Vegas with no memory of what had happened the night before and with one of their party - Doug - missing and the film followed them as they tried to piece together what happened by visiting the places they'd been. Part II was essentially the same storyline, simply set in Bangkok, with the group doing the same or similar things and yet again with a member of their party missing. The fact that the second film was just a slightly different retelling of the first was what let it down the most.

This latest sequel certainly doesn't make that mistake, as it bears no similarity to the first two. Unfortunately, not only does it have a different storyline, it's a completely different type of film. The first two parts were comedy; the third still has some comedy but it's more a comedy action thriller than a simple comedy. There is also a lot more violence than there was in the others, and therefore it really doesn't "fit" with the feel of the series so far. As such, The Hangover Part III is definitely the worst film in the franchise and to some extent gives the impression that they didn't know what to do with the film if the, usually drug induced, "hangover" concept was removed.